Roberto De Zerbi's Stance on Player Commitment at Tottenham

Roberto De Zerbi is not in the business of begging players to stay. Not even the gifted ones.

Lucas Bergvall, handed his first start of Tottenham’s preseason tour in the penalty shootout win over Sydney FC on Wednesday, remains a question without a clear answer. The 20-year-old Sweden international has Newcastle United and Nottingham Forest circling, offers already rebuffed, and a manager who rates him highly but refuses to cling.

“I would like that he stays with us — I think he's a potential top, top, top player, but in the end I don't want to convince anyone to stay,” De Zerbi said, drawing a hard line that felt as much like a message to the dressing room as to Bergvall himself.

This is De Zerbi’s Tottenham now: stay if you’re all in, or make way.

He leaned on that theme again when asked whether he had been given any clarity from the midfielder about his future. Rather than talk about negotiations or promises, he went back to standards — commitment, dedication, and the reality of the environment Bergvall would be fighting in.

“I think Tottenham is already, without me, a top club, and we are not to convince anyone to stay,” he said. “I think he can find the space because the competition between the players will be very strong. We are Tottenham and we have to build a strong squad, not just 11 players.”

That line matters. De Zerbi is building for depth, not just a headline XI. The scars of the last two or three seasons, when injuries ripped through the squad, still feel fresh inside the club. He referenced them directly, tying Bergvall’s opportunity to a broader shift in how elite teams must be constructed.

“Especially considering a lot of injuries we suffered in the last two, three seasons. Football is going in a clear direction: to compete for the [highest] place on the table, you have to manage 22, 23, 24 players.”

Bergvall, then, is not a luxury. He is part of the volume of quality De Zerbi believes is now non-negotiable.

The Italian has invested time in understanding him. This is not a manager making a snap judgment on a young player glimpsed in training for a week. De Zerbi detailed a long-running dialogue: conversations before the end of last season, two separate talks during the World Cup, and now, at last, proper work together on the grass.

“I'm speaking with him before the end of the last season, during the World Cup two times, now we are speaking better now [face to face] without competition in this moment,” he explained. “Now I started to work [with him] like I know, like my style. In the last season, when we prepared the games, we worked on the head, on the mentality, more than the style of play.”

The picture is clearer now. For De Zerbi, Bergvall’s role and profile have come into focus.

“I think his position is very clear for me now also because I needed time to understand the characteristic of the players, but I would like that he stays with us. He's a very young, very good player, good guy, and it's not so easy and so fast to find a young player of that level.”

That last line is telling. Young players with his ceiling do not come along often. When they do, big clubs usually cling to them. De Zerbi, though, keeps returning to the same stance: he wants Bergvall, but only on the right terms, only if the midfielder sees his future inside this project.

While the uncertainty around Bergvall lingers, De Zerbi has already turned some of his attention to a different kind of jewel in his squad.

Sandro Tonali, Tottenham’s record signing from Newcastle, has barely arrived and already carries the weight of expectation. De Zerbi did nothing to play that down, describing the Italy international in language that left no doubt about how he views the midfielder’s ceiling.

“A precious diamond.”

The phrase landed with intent. Tottenham have not just bought a name; they have bought a centrepiece. Yet De Zerbi immediately stressed the responsibility that comes with it, for both player and staff.

“But we have to manage him like a precious diamond,” he said. “We have to help him to improve in the last decision, as [well] as physical work. He has to work hard to become stronger because this diamond footballer needs to be strong and to give space when there is the right moment.”

This is the balance Tottenham must strike in the coming months: nurturing potential without smothering it, demanding more without burning players out. De Zerbi’s track record with young talent is strong, and he made a point of placing Tonali within that history.

“I usually give time to all my young players I work with in my career, and with his potential, he is a special player.”

So the picture at Spurs, even on a preseason night in Sydney, is layered.

On one side, Bergvall stands at a crossroads, courted by other Premier League clubs, admired by his manager, yet challenged to decide whether he truly wants to fight for a place in a squad designed to be deeper, tougher, and far more unforgiving.

On the other, Tonali arrives as the marquee signing, labelled a diamond and expected to shine, but only after being cut, polished, and hardened for the demands of English football under a manager who refuses to lower the bar.

De Zerbi has made his position plain: Tottenham will be built around players who embrace that standard. The rest, however talented, will have to decide if they can live with it.